From Eddie Kantar: Modern Bridge Defence

Lead low in a suit enemy bid if you have 3 honours in it.

Leading against NoTrump

With 2 suits of equal length and strength, one headed by the Ace, lead the other – the Ace
will be a later entry to your hand to continue the suit.

When your hand is weak and your long suit bad, with the opponents creeping into 3NT (24
or 25 points), you hold 3 points, so partner has close to an opening bid but passed, then
partner has either (a) the suit bid or (b) a lower ranked suit. For example: (you are East)

N You S Your Partner

1c P 1H P
1NT P 2NT P
3NT P P P Try a diamond lead; if partner had spades he
could have bid them.

In NT, lead from AQxxx but do not lead from Aqxx

Playing against 6NT, do not lead away from an honour (choose another suit)

Coded 9s and 10s – a convention which partners must agree to play

From a suit headed by A 10 9, K 10 9 or Q 10 9, lead the 9. Partner checks his cards and
dummy to verify its not “top of nothing” and knows you show 2 higher cards in the suit.
From a suit headed by A J 10 or K J 10, lead the 10 – it shows Zero or 2 higher cards
(Partner can work out which by his hand and dummy).
From A K 10 9 or A Q 10 9, lead 9 , playing zero or 2.

From K Q 10 9 , lead the Q asking partner to unblock J if he has it. If partner does not
have it, look elsewhere for tricks.
With a four-honour holding, lead Ace, asking partner to unblock the missing honour if he
has it.

Leading a suit partner bid and you did not support: From 2 cards lead higher, from 3
lead lowest, so 2 from 862 or from Q62.

Leading a suit partner bid and you supported: With 3/4 small cards, lead highest, but
with an honour among them lead low. With 862 lead 8, with Q62 lead 2.

Leading a suit with 3 honour cards but having been bid by the enemy, lead low.
Leading low in a suit they have bid means you have the goods.

If you have KQJ 10 x or KQJ 9 x, lead K

If you have QJ 10 9 x or QJ 10 8 x, lead Q
If you have KJ 10 9 x or KJ 10 8 x, lead 10
If you have A 10 9 8 x or A 10 9 7 x, lead 9

Against NT – Opening Leads Summary

A shows AKQ 10 or AKJ9 or AQJ 10 ( 4 honours)

K shows top pf KQJ, KQ 10, maybe Kqx
Q shows QJ 10, QJ 9, maybe Qjx
J shows J 10x, J 10 9
10 is from AJ 10, KJ 10, or 10 9 x
9 is from A 10 9, K 10 9, Q 10 9 or rarely 987

8/7 are discouraging cards. Rarely 4th best (AQ972)

6/5/4/3/2 are usually 4th best.

Leading Against Suits

Decide whether an active or passive lead is right.

If you fear declarer will ruff losers in dummy, lead a trump.
If you fear declarer will discard losers on an established suit in dummy, make an attacking
lead, e.g. Leading from Q or K or leading an Ace when you dont have the King.
If you fear neither of the above, make a passive lead, perhaps a trump or a suit they bid.
You are playing the waiting game, waiting declarer to open up suits rather than you.

Do NOT lead a trump when they are playing in a misfit, e.g.

N You S Partner
1S P 1NT P
2S P 3D P
3S P P P

Above bidding shows they have not got a fit.

Ace is led at Trick One from Akx(x)(x), so clarifying the lead of a King shows KQ(x)(x)
AFTER Trick One, the K is led from both situations.
King is led at Trick One if leader's partner bid it, or leader bid it and partner supported, or if
the contract is at the 5 level. In each of these situations, it is common to lead Ace without
holding the King, so the King is led to avoid that confusion.

K is from suits headed KQ (Kx)

Q from QJ (Qx)
J from J 10 (Jx)
10 from 10 9 or from KJ 10
9 from Q 10 9 or K 10 9 or 987 (9x)

Third Hand Play

With an honour higher than dummy's card, rather than playing it, insert a 9 or higher.
Lacking 9 or higher, play the honour. Against a suit contract, play the honour.

When partner leads an honour -vs- NT, unblock with a doubleton honour. This also
benefits you by preventing declarer throwing you in.

When it is clear that overtaking will cost you a trick, do not overtake, for example, holding
K3 with 10 6 4 in dummy, partner leading 8 from his bid suit, playing low may force
Declarer to win with the Ace from a holding such as A75, but it more importantly prevents
dummy's 10 becoming a winner.

High – Low :Consider the bidding in deciding if the lead of 3 followed by play or lead of 2
is a doubleton or a 5-card suit (this is how a 5-card suit is led).

When partner leads Q of the 4-card suit you bid (AJ85), (643 in dummy), place declarer
with K 10 9 x, play LOW at Trick One so as to be sure of taking 2 tricks in the suit. If you
win with your Ace, declarer's 9 and 10 may become tricks for declarer.

When partner leads a low card ( holding (a)10763 or (b) Q962 or (c) K762), (promising an
honour) and you see (a) KJ2 / (b) K 103 (c) A 10 3 ,in dummy, you hold (a) Q94/ (b) J84,
(c) J84, then assume declarer has (a and b) the Ace, (c) the K or Q and play the (a)9/(b
and c) 8.

4 opening lead tips vs a suit when partner leads a spot card (2-9):
Assume partner is not underleading an Ace or KQ combination
A high spot is more apt to be from shortness.
Good players underlead Kings more often than Jacks.
When you bid a suit and partner raises but leads another suit, partner is either leading
from a strong honour sequence or has a singleton in the suit he leads, or has the Ace of
your suit and fears declarer has the King.

Do NOT play “third-hand high” when declarer is known to hold all the missing honours, or
in the following scenarios:

When partner leads low and you have three worthless cards, play low and give count.
When partner leads a trump and you have an honour that might overtrump dummy later,
save your honour.
When partner leads from a known doubleton against a suit and you have the Ace but NO
outside entry, signal encouragement. Next time partner is on lead he leads his second
card, you win with the Ace and return the suit for partner to ruff.
When you must keep a high honour to prevent entry to dummy to run a long suit.
Against NT when partner leads your suit from a likely doubleton, and you know declarer
has a stopper or two, allow declarer win the first trick so partner can keep a second card in
the suit. Partner leads a 7 (from 72) to dummy's 843, and you place declarer with Q96.
Your hand is AKJ 10 5, so play the 10. When partner leads the 2 to you, later, you can run
the suit.
Against NT, holding AQ(x)(x) it is best to play the Q; you bid the suit and partner
supported. Dummy has a doubleton 64. Partner has J73 and declarer K 108. If declarer
ducks, lead LOW through declarer to partner.

With most 3rd seat AQ combinations, especially at NT, your best bet is to play Q when
partner leads the suit. If declarer has the King, this prevents a hold-up play.

When declarer has 2 stoppers in the suit you bid and partner leads from a likely doubleton
(643 in dummy), again allow declarer wint he first trick so partner can keep that second
card in your suit of AJ 10 9 5, declarer holding KQ8. In a suit contract you will win the
second lead from partner and return the suit for a ruff; in NT you will duck again assuming
you have an outside entry to get to your long established suit.

Returning Partner's Suit (after Trick 1)

With 2 play High-Low
With 3 play lowest
With 4+play original 4th highest
With an honour sequence, return highest card.

When 3rd Hand Plays immediately before Dummy:

When forcing out a higher card from dummy, play low from equals. Playing the 9 instead of
the 8 denies holding the higher card.
Sometimes allow dummy win the trick even though you could win the trick yourself,e.g.
Holding AJ 10, partner leading 9 from 9872 and dummy holding Q64, you assume declarer
has K53 and let dummy's queen win. Later you will win 2 tricks. If you play the Ace
declarer's queen and also king will win. Letting the queen win stops the king winning.
When you have an honour sequence and declarer wins the trick, play the highest card-
this shows partner what your highest of equals is.
When dummy wins the first lead of a suit, play the highest equal honour (Q from QJ 10),
but if dummy plays low, play the lowest (10).

Attitude Signals
If you hold AK864 and see Q53 in dummy, partners play of 9 must be the top of a
doubleton. (the missing equal honour is in dummy). Declarer has J 107.
If you have supported partners suit, then your encouraging signal must be the equal
honour signal. It cannot be from a doubleton, given the bidding.

The lead of the Ace

Partner leads A from A3, with QJ 109 in dummy and you have K854. Declarer has 762.
Play low if you want partner to switch to another suit (even though you have an equal
honour).

When you play low, partner must try to find which suit you want led. Partner led K and you
have the Ace but you want another suit, so you play low. Looking at weak cards in his
own hand (862) and dummy's KJ9 it should be obvious you want that particular suit led
through. Assuming partner leads 8 to dummy's 9, you play the 10 and return the
original suit to partner's known Queen.After cashing the third round of your suit, lead the
13th card to partner for a ruff by declarer and a hope-for overruff by partner.

If you have no reason for a switch of suit, or reason to fear it, you may have to play a false
encouraging card. The defenders must use the bidding to unravel ambiguous signals.

If you hold QJ, play the Q when partner leads the Ace from AK, You are confirming you
have the J, giving partner the option to underlead to it. So you must not play the Q unless
you hold the J or unless you see the J in dummy. If partner underleads to your Jack, it is
likely he wants you to lead through defender the suit which is weak in dummy.

If your spot cards are worse than dummy's, e.g. Q832 and dummy has J 1094, when
partner leads the A you must play the 2 to discourage continuing the suit. Otherwise,
dummy's Jack will become a winner and if partner has Akx, declarer has two cards and so
will also ruff the third trick.

The lead of the King

The lead of the King is generally from KQ combination, but sometimes from AKx(x)(x) if the
suit has been bid and supported. With A or J, give encouraging signal, so a high-low with
a doubleton is given only if you could not possibly have A or J (maybe they can be seen in
dummy). If the J is in dummy, but you hold 92, it is ok to play the 9 as partner will know it
is not encouraging – declarer will play their Ace on the King. If the A is in dummy and you
dont hold the J, play low, encouraging partner to switch. The high-low signal with an e.g.
95 doubleton is NOT given when dummy has no honour – partner will think you hold A or
J.
If you have a doubleton including an honour e.g. J3 and A 10 9 are in dummy, do NOT play
high-low as it will establish a winner in dummy. But holding J 10 2, on partner's king, with
753 in dummy, play the J promising the 10.

With Ax, win the A and return the low card. Partner will win and return a card for you to ruff.
If you play low, the suit is blocked. But with QJX of trumps for example, do not overtake as
it will cost you a natural trump trick to ruff with an honour.

The lead of the Queen

The lead of the Q is normally a top of a 2 or 3 card honour sequence including J but
denying K or A. When partner leads Q, third-hand encourages holding K or 10. Showing
the “equal honour” takes precedence over playing a high-low to show a doubleton holding.
In order not to confuse partner, the three missing honours A K 10 should be visible to
partner after the play to the first trick (perhaps in dummy, or perhaps dummy played low
with A 10 and therefore declarer will win with K).

When you have a choice of spot cards , play your highest of equals to make the signal
clear. This denies the card above. As a result of you playing the 9 (denying the 10) partner
may switch suits.
When partner leads the queen and third hand has an honour. With 4 cards to the A, and 4
spots in dummy, partner leading Q, you must play your Ace if the bidding indicates
declarer may have a singleton K. But if you know the suit is divided evenly from the
bidding (perhaps partner has QJ or Qjx), you may decide to signal encouragement.

If the bidding tells you partner has a doubleton (Q5), it is usually right to signal
encouragement with AJ 10972, three spots in dummy, and allow declarer win K from Kx.
Later partner may return the suit giving you the opportunity to play a third card for a
possible trump promotion.

If you have Kx or Ax, unblock the honour unless you can see by what is in dummy, that it
would cost a trick. For example, if the 10xx is in dummy, the 10 will win the third trick, so
discourage with your low card.

The lead of the jack

The lead of the jack is a top card. Playing “Jack denies” it denies AKQ, playing standard it
is usually a top card, except when it is from K J 10. Third hand starts an echo high-low
with an honour and playing high-low with a doubleton only if partner can tell you absolutely
cannot have an honour. (The honour is in dummy, or you would have covered dummy's
honour if you had it).

Partner leads J and the equal honours are Q and 9. Play high to confirm holding the equal
honour. However, seeing AK3 in dummy, and dummy playing low, play top of doubleton
74, as declarer will win with Q in hand, and partner will know you have a doubleton.

Holding K or A with Q in dummy: if dummy plays low under the J, play a high spot to show
partner an honour, but if dummy plays Q, cover it.
The Count signal is used mainly when declarer or dummy initiate a suit. There is no point
in giving a count signal where the bidding has already revealed how many cards declarer
has in the suit.

When dummy leads an Honour

Cover an honour with an honour so as to promote lower cards, either 9s or 10s for uou or
your partner. Dummy leads Q from Q2, and you play K from K 109. Declarer will win with
A and will take another trick holding J, but your 10 is now the highest card and will take a
trick. If you fail to cover Declarer can win A Q and J and you will not get a trick.
If you have K54 instead, you should still cover, partner may have 9xxx or 10xx and will win
a trick.
BUT, if you cannot promote anything for yourself, and if partner has insufficient length in
the suit, do not cover. Partner's length is critical, and may be discerned from the bidding.

So when J of an unbid suit is led from dummy's J54, holding Q32 you should cover hoping
that declarer and partner each have only 1 honour.

If dummy has a number of equal honours, cover the last equal. Cover the first equal
honour of dummy leads from a doubleton in which both cards are honours. If there are 2
equal honours in dummy and you have a doubleton honour, cover the first honour.

When declarer has 4+ cards, dummy has 2 and you have 4 dont cover. Eventually your
honour will win. But if declarer is known to hold 3 cards only, cover in the hope of
promoting the ten in partners hand. Declarer's and partner's length are the key.

When J is led from dummy, holding AQxx, play A. However without the Q, play low in a suit
contract, play the A at NT. At a suit contract when you are not looking at the ten, it is
usually right to duck the J.